


She'll Tempt Your Fate

by TwoCatsTailoring



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Bad Jokes, Crude Humor, Gen, Language, look sera is involved so you know it's going to be crude
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-23 23:38:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15617553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwoCatsTailoring/pseuds/TwoCatsTailoring
Summary: Agaist advice, Inquisitor Trevelyan takes Cassandra, Vivienne, and Sera as her party to the Exalted Plains. It actually goes pretty well.  Just a little more tasteless than she'd expected.





	She'll Tempt Your Fate

“Listen, all I’m sayin’ is that it’s creepy hearing a song sung about you when you are trying to have a pee.” Sera walked along the rock ledge above the rest of their group, keeping an eye on the horizon while searching for the supposed campsite that was in the area. “I swear she waits ‘til she knows I’m on the pot.”

Cassandra was hard pressed at this point to not outright laugh. Even Vivienne was starting a crack a little bit. Echo’s decision to take these particular people with her into the Exalted Plains had been met with wide eyes and kindly-meant cautions against expecting anybody to get along. The women themselves were also unimpressed.

It was a carefully calculated risk. Echo had read the reports and she was able to read between the lines as well - things in the Dales were going to be horrible. They would need to have something to focus on other than the horrors around them, and the animosity that arose from their wildly different personalities would be good. Or so she hoped.

What she had not counted on was the fact that deep down, all three of them possessed a wicked streak of wit that could take as good as it got. Sera’s attack on Cassandra’s default expression had turned into a contest of who had the best Resting Bitch Face (Vivienne won and was presented with a crown of elfroot that hung limply now from her belt as it wouldn't stay put over her cowl.) When Vivienne’s ceremonial attitude came under fire, instead of escalating to chilly silence, she turned it into a lesson for them all about how to get in anywhere simply by looking like your Maker-given-right  to be there. They weren’t sure such information was wise for Sera to have (starting with Sera herself,) but it was confidence boosting just the same. The whole plan was working out better than Echo could have ever hoped.

“As uncouth as that sounds, I can see how that would be awkward,” Vivienne said, her mouth twitching with suppressed mirth. “Perhaps you could hang a rag over the railing so that Maryden knows not to sing about you whilst you are indisposed?”

Cassandra’s battle against her own amusement failed at this point and she laughed loud enough to scare a half-dozen crows out of the grass ahead of them. That alone would have been enough to set the other three women off in laughter of their own. Then, the unthinkable happened.

Cassandra  _ snorted _ .

There was a half second of disbelief. Cassandra stood there, with her hand clapped hard over her mouth while varying expressions of shock and awe appeared on the other three faces. Sera was the first to break into near-crying laughter. Echo followed hard on her heels before Vivienne, looking vaguely apologetic, leaned on her staff and ducked her head to giggle like a madwoman. Powerless in the face of their good humor and her own long-suppressed amusement, Cassandra followed suit.

Ten minutes and three occasions of trying to get a grip on themselves and failing because somebody looked at somebody else  _ just so _ or Vivienne said something like, “My stars, darling”, the four of them were finally recovering.

Echo wiped tears from her eyes for the final time and took a deep breath, “There, breathing like something other than a beached carp is beneficial.”

Cassandra agreed with one last chuckle and Vivienne nodded, a hand to her side. Sera stayed where she’d ended up, flat on her back on a rock but gave an airy wave of her hand in agreement. Another few moments of collecting themselves and they set off again, in search of camp.

“It is a good idea, though,” Cassandra said as they walked. “A sign of some sort to let her know that now is not the time?”

“Yeah,” Sera agreed, her eyes sparkling at the idea. “And I could just leave it out all the time so nobody would ever have to hear that weird shite again!”

“Oh no,” Echo cut in immediately. “It’s actually a very nice song and the customers like it. If you don’t let Maryden sing it, I’ll sing it myself!”

“Then everyone would leave the Inquisition and nobody would be left to deal with Coryphilys,” Sera countered.

“That just shows what you know,” Echo said, her smile quirking sideways. She knew this might be a mistake but all those years of singing in Ostwick’s Chantry were going to be useful for  _ something _ . 

The bard Maryden, both loved and reviled by the Inquisition’s people, had a lovely voice that could be described as clear and light. Even in her more solemn songs, there was a certain brighter, higher note that instilled hope in some and a headache in others, given its ability to carry.

That was not Echo’s voice. Hers was deeper, with less range and volume but a more soothing quality to it. Hers was the singing voice of lullabies, sung for reluctant nieces and nephews at bedtime, of Chantry vespers, and of the forbidden and bawdy chanties of the Riviani pirates who docked in Ostwick’s ports before going on to Kirkwall. And, best of all, Echo enjoyed singing. She hadn’t done much of it in years however, wanting to keep the subterfuge up she’d begun after a fever, nearly ten years before when she had been so tired of her ‘duty’ to the Chantry she was growing distrustful of.

She sang Maryden’s words about Sera now, putting in something of her own opinions of her friend in her tone or emphasis on certain words. Teasing, goading, proving to Sera that she would never escape her least-favorite song ever. 

And it apparently completely stunned her companions. She trailed off in the middle because they’d all stopped moving and were looking at her. Cassandra’s face was a mask of wonder, Vivienne’s smile reminded her a little too much of her mother’s, and Sera looked like the cat who got the cream.

“Well,” Vivienne began, once Echo had stopped, “Now I wonder what other little secrets you are keeping, my dear. Hiding such a talent as that.”

Cassandra was still slightly awestruck when she breathed, “That was lovely. I had no idea…”

Echo, suddenly feeling defensive and self-conscious and like this was a very large mistake, looked to Sera, hoping for some level of support in the situation, but it was not to be. Sera, her eyes positively gleaming with mischief, smiled widely and clapped her on the shoulder, “Inquisitor Ladybits, Echo Trevelyan, can sing like an angel! Oh,” she wrinkled up her nose and squinted her eyes as she bounced on the balls of her feet, “This is going to be good.”

“Well,  _ shit _ .”

 

Three Weeks Later…

 

Echo’s frown deepened, rereading the report in her hand again in an attempt to take it all in. She was so engrossed in what she was doing that it took her at least a minute to notice that Mother Giselle was standing in front of her, trying to get her attention. 

“I’m sorry,” Echo said, plastering a smile she didn’t feel on her face. Mother Giselle meant well, she knew, but there were only so many attempts that she could make to convert Echo back to the Maker’s fold before Echo lost some of the ability to be gracious about it. “Can I help you with something?”

“Inquisitor,” the Revered Mother’s voice was cheery and her smile bright with pleasure, “I have just learned from a reliable source that you have a beautiful singing voice. Might I tempt you to join us in services tonight and share your gift with us?”

Well, shit,  _ indeed _ . 

She was going to murder Sera.

While she was awake. So it would hurt more.


End file.
